Intricacy By Annie Dillard Analysis

Tafim Alam

Professor Joines

Engl 1310

04/11/2023

Intricacy analysis

“Intricacy” by Annie Dillard is an excerpt from the larger piece of writing Pilgrims at Tinker Creek. In “Intricacy” Dillard highlights many issues, facts, and characteristics of this world. Dillard highlights the necessity to preserve nature, no matter how big or small. She wants us to focus on the things that we can't see with the naked eye, the things we are unaware of, and the things we walk past every day without noticing. Dillard's writing is extremely effective because she uses details and evidence to provide a message to the reader. She uses pathos to connect to the emotions, ethos to show her credibility, and logos to inform the audience of all the key details. Additionally,

Dillard uses Logos to inform the audience of all the key details involved for Mother Nature to function as it does. When talking about the “Elodea Leaf” Dillard writes “Chloroplasts bear chlorophyll; they give the green world its color”(paragraph 8). Dillard also says, “The cell was…magnified four hundred and fifty times”(paragraph 7). Dillard uses these facts to show us how a little cell that we have to magnify four hundred and fifty times to see, contains even smaller parts called chlorophyll. We learn from these facts that it is not the chloroplast cell that gives the green world its color, but the even smaller particles of chlorophyll that are responsible for the beauty of green in nature. These facts support and shows how effective Dillard is at pursuing the importance of minute things in nature. Dillard reveals “the average size of all living animals, including man, is almost that of a house fly” (paragraph 13). Even with almost eight billion people on the planet, the size of the average living animal in the world is just the size of a fly. Is it even possible to imagine the number

Throughout the essay Dillard gives us many interesting facts and opinions regarding nature, she also shows us why she is capable of writing about these topics. Dillard tells us “I was in a Laboratory, using a very expensive microscope” (paragraph 7). Dillard uses this sentence to show us that she is getting her information from a precise instrument. The word “laboratory” and the phrase “expensive Microscope” tells us that what she is seeing is not a mistake, but the result of high-level technology. She also effectively shows that she has experience in such an environment therefore she is a credible informer of science. Dillard also tells us “I am as passionately interested in where I am as is a lone sailor sans sextant in a ketch on the open ocean”(paragraph 13). A ketch is a type of sailboat and a sextant is a device used to verify the location of the boat in relation to the land. A sailor without a sextant must be aware of his surroundings for them not to get lost. Dillard using this simile to compare her interest in nature and the planet to a committed sailor paints a clear picture of just how passionate she is about what she does. Her passion makes her credible because she has spent many years chasing this passion to further her knowledge of the planet and the nature within. She continues to tell us that she “learned the names of some color